Method of Manufacturing a Plurality of Glass Members, a Method of Manufacturing an Optical Member, and Array of Glass Members in a Glass Substrate

ABSTRACT

An array of glass members is arranged in a glass substrate includes a plurality of depressions formed in a first main surface of the glass substrate, and a plurality of openings formed in a second main surface of the glass substrate.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No.14/813,677 filed on Jul. 30, 2015, the entire contents of which areincorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND

Optical members such as mirrors or prisms have been manufactured usingmethods such as etching, e.g., wet etching or plasma assisted etching,as well as using mechanical methods such as sawing, laser processing.Novel methods are being developed for patterning glass to athree-dimensional shape.

SUMMARY

According to an embodiment, a method of manufacturing a plurality ofglass members includes bringing a first main surface of a glasssubstrate in contact with a first working surface of a first moldsubstrate, the first working surface being provided with a plurality offirst protruding portions, and bringing a second main surface of theglass substrate in contact with a second working surface of a secondmold substrate, the second working surface being provided with aplurality of second protruding portions. The method further includescontrolling a temperature of the glass substrate to a temperature abovea glass-transition temperature to form the plurality of glass members,removing the first and the second mold substrates from the glasssubstrate, and separating adjacent ones of the plurality of glassmembers.

According to a further embodiment, a method of manufacturing a pluralityof optical members includes patterning a first working surface of afirst mold substrate to form a plurality of first protruding portions,bringing a first main surface of a glass substrate in contact with thefirst working surface of the first mold substrate, and bringing a secondmain surface of the glass substrate in contact with a second workingsurface of a second mold substrate. The method further includescontrolling a temperature of the glass substrate to a temperature abovea glass-transition temperature to form a plurality of optical members,and separating adjacent ones of the plurality of optical members.

According to a further embodiment, an array of glass members arranged ina glass substrate includes a plurality of depressions formed in a firstmain surface of the glass substrate, and a plurality of openings formedin a second main surface of the glass substrate.

According to a further embodiment, a glass substrate includes a firstmain surface, a second main surface opposite from the first mainsurface, and a plurality of depressions is formed in the first mainsurface of the glass substrate. Each of the depressions extends towardsthe second main surface and is disposed between thicker sections of theglass substrate. The glass substrate further includes a plurality ofkerfs is formed in the second main surface of the glass substrate. Eachof the kerfs extending towards the first main surface and disposedwithin the thicker sections of the glass substrate. A thickness of thethicker sections is locally minimized by each of the kerfs

Those skilled in the art will recognize additional features andadvantages upon reading the following detailed description and onviewing the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings are included to provide a furtherunderstanding of the invention and are incorporated in and constitute apart of this specification. The drawings illustrate the embodiments ofthe present invention and together with the description serve to explainprinciples of the invention. Other embodiments of the invention andintended advantages will be readily appreciated as they become betterunderstood by reference to the following detailed description.

FIGS. 1A to 1C show elements of a method of manufacturing a plurality ofglass members, according to an embodiment.

FIGS. 2A to 2D show further details of a method of manufacturing anoptical member, according to an embodiment.

FIGS. 3A to 3C show further elements of a method of manufacturing anoptical member, according to embodiments.

FIG. 4 schematically illustrates a further method of manufacturing aglass member, according to an embodiment.

FIG. 5 shows an example of openings formed in a mold substrate,according to embodiments.

FIG. 6A summarizes a method, according to an embodiment.

FIG. 6B summarizes a method, according to a further embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following detailed description reference is made to theaccompanying drawings, which form a part hereof and in which areillustrated by way of illustration specific embodiments in which theinvention may be practiced. In this regard, directional terminology suchas “top”, “bottom”, “front”, “back”, “leading”, “trailing” etc. is usedwith reference to the orientation of the Figures being described. Sincecomponents of embodiments of the invention can be positioned in a numberof different orientations, the directional terminology is used forpurposes of illustration and is in no way limiting. It is to beunderstood that other embodiments may be utilized and structural orlogical changes may be made without departing from the scope defined bythe claims.

The description of the embodiments is not limiting. In particular,elements of the embodiments described hereinafter may be combined withelements of different embodiments.

The terms “lateral” and “horizontal” as used in this specificationintends to describe an orientation parallel to a first surface of asubstrate, e.g., a glass. This can be, for instance, the planar surfaceof a piece of glass.

The term “vertical” as used in this specification intends to describe anorientation which is arranged perpendicular to the first surface of theglass substrate.

FIGS. 1A to 1C illustrate a method according to an embodiment. As willbe explained in the following, a method of manufacturing a glass membercomprises bringing a first main surface 110 of a glass substrate 100 incontact with a first working surface 210 of a first mold substrate 200,the first working surface 210 being provided with a plurality of firstprotruding portions 250. The method further comprises bringing a secondmain surface 120 of the glass substrate 100 in contact with a secondworking surface 310 of a second mold substrate 300, the second workingsurface being provided with a plurality of second protruding portions320.

FIG. 1A shows an example of the glass substrate 100, the first moldsubstrate 200 and the second mold substrate 300. First cavities 260 aredisposed between adjacent first protruding portions 250 in the firstworking surface 210. Second cavities 330 are disposed between adjacentsecond protruding portions 320 in the second working surface 310.Bringing the first main surface 110 of the glass substrate 100 incontact with the first working surface 210 and bringing the second mainsurface 120 of the glass substrate 100 in contact with the second mainsurface 120 of the glass substrate 100 may be accomplished so that thefirst mold substrate 200 and the second mold substrate 300 areappropriately aligned. According to an embodiment that will be explainedlater with reference to FIGS. 3A to 3C, the second protruding portions320 of the second mold substrate 300 may define the positions at whichthe single glass members may be separated, whereas the first protrudingportions 250 of the first mold substrate 200 define depressions in theglass members. Accordingly, the first and the second mold substrates200, 300 may be correspondingly aligned. For example, this may beaccomplished by optical inspection of alignment marks. According to anexample, these alignment marks may be formed by laser treatment oretching. According to further embodiments, the first and second moldsubstrates 200, 300 may be mechanically aligned, e.g. magnetically orusing pins. A pre-alignment by automatic handling may also be performed.

As is further illustrated in FIG. 1B, after bringing the glass substrate100, the first and the second mold substrate 200, 300 in contact, thetemperature of the glass substrate is controlled to a temperature abovea glass-transition temperature. At the glass transition temperature, atransition from the glass material to a molten or a doughy-like statemay take place. As a consequence, the molten or liquefied glass fillsthe first cavities 260 in the first working surface. In a correspondingmanner, a depression is formed in the first main surface 110 at theportion of a protruding portion 250 of the first working surface 210 ofthe first mold substrate.

In a corresponding manner, the second main surface 120 is patterned dueto the contact with the second working surface 310 of the second moldsubstrate 300. In particular, openings 160 are formed in the second mainsurface 120 at a position of the second protruding portions 320.

After cooling the stack comprising the glass substrate, the first andthe second mold substrates 200, 300, the glass substrate solidifies andthe first and the second mold substrates 200, 300 are removed from theglass substrate. As a result, depressions 150 are formed in the firstmain surface 110 of the glass substrate 100. Further, correspondingopenings 160 are formed in the second main surface 120 of the glasssubstrate 100. FIG. 1C shows an example of the glass substrate afterremoving the first and the second mold substrates 200, 300 from theglass substrate 100.

Generally, within the context of the present application, the term“glass substrate” is to be understood to comprise any amorphous(non-crystalline) solid material that may be transparent and may be, forexample, used in the field of optoelectronics. The glass may be based onsilicon dioxide. Specific embodiments comprise soda-lime glass, floatglass, quartz glass and further examples such as porcelains, polymerthermoplastics, polymer glasses, acrylic glass, polycarbonate,polyethylene terephthalate.

The glass substrate may comprise a quartz glass, e.g., undoped silica,or silica doped with at least one dopant, the dopant(s) being selectedfrom a group containing boron (B), sodium (Na), calcium (Ca), potassium(K) and aluminum (Al), (zinc (Zn), copper (Cu), magnesium (Mg),germanium (Ge). According to further embodiments, the glass substratemay comprise a polymer, for example polynorbornene, polystyrene,polycarbonate, polyimide, or benzocyclobutene.

At the glass transition temperature, there is a transition from a hardand relatively brittle state into a molten or doughy-like state. Forexample, the glass substrate deforms when being subjected to a force.Examples of the glass transition temperature are 520 to 600° C. forsoda-lime glass, approximately 1200° for fused quartz and 145° forpolycarbonate. For example, at the glass transition temperature, theviscosity of the glass substrate may be in a range of 10¹² to 10^(13.5)dPa·s.

According to an embodiment, the first and the second mold substrates200, 300 may be pressed together while the temperature of the glasssubstrate is controlled to a temperature above the glass-transitiontemperature. For example, an external pressure that is applied betweenthe first and the second mold substrates 200, 300 may be in a range of 2to 8 kN/cm². As will be readily appreciated, the pressure may be lowerthan 2 kN/cm², and the glass substrate may be heated to a highertemperature. For example, the glass substrate may be heated to atemperature above the Littleton Point. At the Littleton Point, theviscosity of the glass may be approximately 10^(7.6) dPA·s. For example,in this case the weight of the first and the second mold substrates maybe sufficient so that liquefied glass flows and fills the cavities andopenings in the first and the second mold substrates. For example, inthis case, no external pressure may be applied.

For example, the glass substrate may be implemented as a planarsubstrate made of glass. According to a further embodiment, the glasssubstrate may comprise a powder, a glass frit or glass pellets, whichare brought into contact with the mold substrate.

The first and second mold substrates may comprise a metal, for examplestainless steel or steel or non-metal compound such as Silicon (Si) orceramics. The first working surface 210 of the first mold substrate 200may be processed by forming cavities 260 and/or protruding portions 250.For example, the first working surface 210 may be processed usingpatterning methods such as etching or mechanical methods, e.g., millingor powder blasting, to form the protruding portions 250 and the cavities260. In particular, hard mask layers may be formed over the firstworking surface 210 to further pattern the first working surface 210.Etching processes may be used that may form a predefined angle withrespect to a horizontal surface of the first mold substrate. This may beuseful when the mold substrate comprises silicon. Further examples ofthe material of the mold substrate comprise ceramics, which may have ahigh melting temperature. The second mold substrate may be made of thesame material as the first mold substrate or from a different material.

A size of the first and second mold substrates 200, 300 may beapproximately equal to a size of the glass substrate 100.

A releasing agent, e.g., an anti-sticking layer is formed over the firstworking surface. For example, the releasing agent may comprise a carboncompound, e.g. graphene, pyrolytic carbon, metal carbides, e.g.,tungsten carbide (WC) or glassy carbon or boron nitride (BN).

The first working surface 210 may be processed and patterned, e.g., toform protruding portions 250 and cavities 260 between protrudingportions. For example, the protruding portions may have an arbitraryshape and the cavities.

FIG. 2A shows further examples of protruding portions and cavities. Forexample, the protruding portions may have the shape of a trapezoidhaving two bases and two legs. Generally, the term “trapezoid” refers toa quadrilateral with at least one pair of parallel sides. A shorter baseof the trapezoid may have a length d in a range of approximately 50 μmto 10 mm, the larger base of the trapezoid may have a length l in arange of approximately 50 μm to 10 mm. A depth t of the trapezoid may bein a range of approximately 10 to more than 10000 μm, e.g. in a range of10 to 5000 μm. The angle β may be in a range of 20 to 90° and α=180−β.The patterning process for patterning the first working surface 210 maybe performed so that the legs define a certain angle, e.g., with respectto each of the bases. As is illustrated in FIG. 2A, an angle between theleg and a horizontal line parallel to the bases may be α and β.Depending on the properties of the optical member to be formed, theangles β and α may be appropriately selected. The second working surfaceof the second mold substrate may be processed in a corresponding manner.For example, the second working surface 310 may be patterned accordingto the needs of the manufacturing process.

As is to be readily understood, the cavities, depressions and protrudingportions may have any different kind of geometric shape.

For example, second protruding portions 320 are defined in the secondworking surface 310 of the second mold substrate. The second protrudingportions 320 of the second mold substrate 300 may define an edge area ofthe optical element, e.g. a kerf.

FIG. 2B shows an example of a glass substrate 100 after having beenbrought into contact with the first mold substrate 200 and the secondmold substrate 300. The glass substrate, the first and the second moldsubstrates 200, 300 are selected so that a plurality of optical elementsmay be processed in parallel. Accordingly, as is also shown in FIG. 2B,a plurality of depressions 150 are formed in the first main surface 110of the glass substrate 100. As is further illustrated in FIG. 2B, theangles α and β at the corners 151 and 152 are transferred into the glasssubstrate 100. Further, the second main surface 120 of the glasssubstrate 100 is patterned to form depressions 150 corresponding to theprotruding portions 320 of the second mold substrate 300.

FIG. 2B shows an array of glass members 170 arranged in a glasssubstrate. As is shown, the array of glass members 170 comprises aplurality of depressions 150 formed in a first main surface 110 of theglass substrate and a plurality of depressions 160 formed in a secondmain surface 120 of the glass substrate 100. As is also shown in FIG.2B, a surface portion 130 of the glass substrate 100 forming a sidewallor a surface of the depression 150 implements an active surface of theoptical components. The glass members may be optical components such asprisms. The term “active surface” is understood to represent a lightreflective or light transmissive surface. Generally, strict demands withrespect to quality of these active surfaces have to be met. Inparticular, active surfaces should have a low degree of surfaceroughness so as to enable a specular reflection. Due to the fact thatthe active surface forms a sidewall or surface of the depression 150,the first main surface 110 of the glass substrate 100 may be processedusing mechanical methods such as grinding or a CMP process withoutaffecting the active surface of the optical component.

FIG. 2C shows a portion of a plan view of a second main surface of anexample of the glass substrate which has been processed by the method asdescribed hereinabove. Components at the first main surface 110 of theglass substrate 100 are indicated by broken lines. For the sake ofsimplicity, only a row of adjacent optical members disposed within oneglass substrate is shown. As is clearly to be understood, the patternmay be repeated along the horizontal and the vertical axes thereof. Asis shown, the kerf 160 may be formed so as to have a closed shape (e.g.,rectangular or circular shape). The broken lines indicate the positionof the depressions 150 formed in the first main surface of the glasssubstrate.

According to the embodiment shown in FIG. 2D, the kerf 160 may run inone direction only. In this case, adjacent optical members may beseparated from each other by means of sawing. Another possibility forseparation is scribing and/or breaking.

FIGS. 3A to 3C show further elements of the method of manufacturing aglass member. Starting from a structure shown in FIG. 3A, whichcorresponds to the cross-sectional view of FIG. 2B, a grinding step orCMP (“chemical mechanical polishing”) step from the first main surface110 may be performed so as to separate the adjacent members from eachother. FIG. 3B shows an example of a resulting structure, in which twoadjacent glass members are connected at the position corresponding tothe depression 150 formed in the first main surface 110. Thereafter,adjacent members may be separated at the position of the depression 150by means of sawing. FIG. 3C shows an example of a resulting structureafter separating the adjacent glass members. As is shown, the singleglass members 170 are separated from each other.

FIG. 4 shows a further embodiment according to which a protrudingportion 270 for separating the glass members is formed in the firstworking surface 210 of the first mold substrate 200. As is shown, whenpressing the first and the second mold substrates 200, 300 together,first and second depressions 161, 162 are formed in each of the firstmain surface 110 and the second main surface 120 of the glass substrate100, respectively. Thereafter, the glass members may be separated bybreaking. According to this embodiment, the first and the second moldsubstrates 200, 300 should be correspondingly aligned so that the firstand second depressions 161, 162 horizontally overlap with each other,i.e., there is a horizontal position at which the first and the seconddepressions 161, 162 are disposed.

As has been explained with references to FIGS. 1 to 4, a plurality ofglass members may be manufactured in parallel by processing a singleglass substrate and separating the single glass members thereafter. Dueto the fact that the mold substrates have a patterned working surface,the pattern of the working surfaces may be transferred into the firstand second main surface 110, 120 of the glass substrate 100.

This may be useful in a case in which the surface of the glass substrateis not to be processed by an etching or mechanical method. For example,the method described may be used for manufacturing an optical memberhaving a very low degree of surface roughness. Due to the fact that theglass substrate is not processed using etching processes but thepatterning is performed on the first mold substrate, the glass membermay be appropriately shaped without degrading the surface thereof.Optionally, also the second working surface of the second mold substratemay be patterned. As a result, a glass member having a high quality ofthe surface including a low degree of surface roughness may bemanufactured.

Moreover, the method described enables to implement special sizes of theglass member. For example, the glass member may have an arbitrary shapeincluding a triangular shape having angles which are difficult toachieve with conventional patterning methods such as etching. Due to thefeature that patterning the glass substrate is performed from the firstmain surface side 110 and the second main surface side 120, it ispossible to separate adjacent members of the glass substrate byperforming, e.g., a grinding process from the first main surface side110. As a result, it is possible to process a plurality of glass memberssimultaneously. Further, due to this processing method, the second mainsurface of the glass substrate is not grinded or subjected to atreatment so that it maintains its optical properties. Further, due tothe fact that the glass members may be separated by treating portions ofthe first main surface, mechanically methods for separating the opticalmembers, e.g., sawing, may be dispensed with or avoided.

FIG. 5 shows an example of a cross-sectional view of a mold substrate.As is shown, the cavities 260 formed in the mold substrate may have anarbitrary shape, including angled structures as well as roundedstructures, which may be suitable for forming lenses, for example. Anupper diameter p of the opening 260 may be smaller than a lower width qof the opening. Due to the fact that the glass substrate is heated tothe glass transition temperature, the liquefied glass flows andfills—with or without an applied external pressure—the entire of theopening 260.

According to a further embodiment, the optical members explained abovemay be integrated with further optical components, e.g., glass fibers.

FIGS. 6A and 6B summarize methods according to embodiments. As is shownin FIG. 6A, a method of manufacturing a plurality of glass memberscomprises bringing a first main surface of a glass substrate in contactwith a first working surface of a first mold substrate (S100), the firstworking surface being provided with a plurality of first protrudingportions, bringing a second main surface of the glass substrate incontact with a second working surface of a second mold substrate (S110),the second working surface being provided with a plurality of secondprotruding portions, controlling (S120) a temperature of the glasssubstrate to a temperature above the glass-transition temperature toform the plurality of glass members, removing the first and second moldsubstrates from the glass substrate (S130) and separating adjacent onesof the plurality of glass members (S140). Bringing the first mainsurface of the glass substrate in contact with the first working surfaceof the first mold substrate may be performed before, after orsimultaneously with bringing the second main surface of the glasssubstrate in contact with the second working surface of the second moldsubstrate.

As is further shown in FIG. 6B, a method of manufacturing a plurality ofoptical members comprises patterning a first working surface of a firstmold substrate to form a plurality of first protruding portions (S200),bringing a first main surface of a glass substrate in contact with thefirst working surface of the first mold substrate (S210), bringing asecond main surface of the glass substrate in contact with the secondworking surface of the second mold substrate (S220), controlling (S230)a temperature of the glass substrate to a temperature above aglass-transition temperature, and separating (S240) adjacent ones of theplurality of optical members. According to further embodiments, also thesecond working surface of the second mold substrate may be patterned.Patterning the first working surface of the first mold substrate may beperformed before, after or simultaneously with patterning the secondworking surface of the second mold substrate. Bringing the first mainsurface of the glass substrate in contact with the first working surfaceof the first mold substrate may be performed before, after orsimultaneously with bringing the second main surface of the glasssubstrate in contact with the second working surface of the second moldsubstrate.

Although specific embodiments have been illustrated and describedherein, it will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the artthat a variety of alternate and/or equivalent implementations may besubstituted for the specific embodiments shown and described withoutdeparting from the scope of the present invention. This application isintended to cover any adaptations or variations of the specificembodiments discussed herein. Therefore, it is intended that thisinvention be limited only by the claims and the equivalents thereof.

What is claimed is:
 1. An array of glass members arranged in a glasssubstrate, comprising: a plurality of depressions formed in a first mainsurface of the glass substrate; and a plurality of openings formed in asecond main surface of the glass substrate.
 2. The array of glassmembers according to claim 1, wherein the glass members are opticalcomponents, a surface portion of the glass substrate defining thedepression implementing an active surface of an optical component. 3.The array of glass members according to claim 2, wherein each of thedepressions extend towards the second main surface and are disposedbetween thicker sections of the glass substrate.
 4. The array of glassmembers according to claim 2, wherein each of the depressions extendaway from a planar outer surface portion of the first main surface. 5.The array of glass members according to claim 4, wherein at least one ofthe depressions has a trapezoid shape.
 6. The array of glass membersaccording to claim 4, wherein at least one of the depressions has asemi-circle shape.
 7. The array of glass members according to claim 3,wherein the openings extend towards the first main surface and aredisposed within the thicker sections of the glass substrate.
 8. Thearray of glass members according to claim 7, wherein each one of thethicker sections comprises two of the openings.
 9. The array of glassmembers according to claim 3, wherein each one of the openings isconfigured as a kerf that defines a perimeter of each optical component.10. The array of glass members according to claim 9, wherein each one ofthe kerfs have an enclosed shape.
 11. A glass substrate, comprising: afirst main surface; a second main surface opposite from the first mainsurface; a plurality of depressions is formed in the first main surfaceof the glass substrate, each of the depressions extending towards thesecond main surface and disposed between thicker sections of the glasssubstrate; and a plurality of kerfs is formed in the second main surfaceof the glass substrate, each of the kerfs extending towards the firstmain surface and disposed within the thicker sections of the glasssubstrate, wherein a thickness of the thicker sections is locallyminimized by each of the kerfs.
 12. The glass substrate of claim 11,wherein each of the kerfs are separated by a planar outer surface of thesecond main surface.
 13. The glass substrate of claim 12, wherein eachof the kerfs comprise planar sidewalls intersecting the planar outersurface and extending towards the first main surface.